Hennesey

As an interesting little story, the HAVEN was used in a Television Sitcom as a San Diego Naval Station backdrop setting. The show was aired from 1959-1962. The TV series "Hennesey" had the greatest theme tune in the history of television ... hands down, no exceptions, bar none.

"Hennesey" was one of the very first examples of a now-common practice: a TV series in which the leading actor is also the executive producer. Former child actor Jackie Cooper was active for many years in the Naval Reserve as a pilot, and he put his real-life experience to work in this series. Cooper starred as Lieutenant Charles Hennesey, a Navy doctor stationed at an onshore Naval base in California. "Hennesey" was nominally a comedy, but all of the situations and characters were realistic ... unlike the supposedly realistic "M*A*S*H", "Hennesey" never introduced an implausible situation for the sake of a cheap laugh. Much attention was devoted to character delineation and interaction in a realistic (peacetime) military setting. The biggest problem with this series was that it took place in a U.S. military base in the early 1960s yet managed to avoid any mention of Vietnam.

Jackie Cooper Productions, Inc.
The Hennesey Company, Inc.
Outlet Productions, Inc.
CBS (Mondays 10:00 pm EST)
Produced by Jackie Cooper
Created by Don McGuire
Emcee, S.A., Coire

Jackie Cooper
as
Charles J. "Chick" Hennesey
Abby Dalton as Martha Hale (1959-62)
Roscoe Karns as Capt. Walter Shafer (1959-62)
Henry Kulky as Max Bronski (1959-62)
James Komack as Harvey Spencer Blair III (1959-62)
Arte Johnson as Seaman Shatz (1959-62)
Herb Ellis as Dr. Dan Wagner (1960-62)
Robert Gist as Dr. Owen King (1960)
Norman Alden as Pulaski (1960-62)
Meg Wyllie as Mrs. Shafer (1959-62)

Music by Sonny Burke

Opening Theme Closing Theme

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